Kenseth stretches fuel, steals win at Pocono
LONG POND, Pa. — Joey Logano was the first leader to fade, his tank on empty with three laps left.
Martin Truex Jr. struck E with two laps to go.
Kyle Busch knew his Toyota was about out, too, and his shot at a fourth straight win tapped out on the last lap.
One by one, fuel woes cost the contenders. But the pain at the pump for drivers pushing toward the finish line was the break Matt Kenseth needed to coast past them all in the final thrilling laps Sunday to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway.
“I couldn’t catch them anyway but I just wanted to get as close as I could in case they ran out,” Kenseth said.
Once they ran out of fuel, Kenseth not only had enough left in the tank to win, he pulled off a celebratory burnout.
Kenseth’s win continued the sensational summer run for Joe Gibbs Racing, making it five wins in the last six races. Busch, who had the other victories, failed in his bid to become the ninth driver since 1972 and the first since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four straight Cup races.
Busch had won three straight Cup races and four of five, swept the Xfinity and Cup races last
weekend at Indianapolis and won the Truck Series event Saturday at Pocono. Busch remained outside the top 30 in points, the second marker he needs to hit to qualify for the Chase.
“I wish I had saved a little more,” Busch said. “I wish I had known (Logano) was that far from making it. It’s a shame we couldn’t get it done.”
Truex was 19th, Logano 20th, and Busch 21st.
“I was saving fuel just to cushion it,” Logano said. “I thought I was going to be good and then I started running out and knew we weren’t going to make it. We were so close.”
Brad Keselowski was second, followed by Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Greg Biffle.
Kenseth won for the second time this season and for the first time ever at Pocono. “I never thought I’d win at Pocono,” he said.
Kenseth survived a race that resembled a demolition derby: Cars, crews, walls, equipment, all took beatings over 400 miles.
Kasey Kahne kicked off the carnage when his No. 5 got loose, found the opening to pit road and slammed the inside pit road wall. Kahne’s hit buckled the wall, sent helmets flying and crew members scurrying. “I saw the people and I thought to myself that those guys need to take off running and get out of the way,” Kahne said.
The race was redflagged for about 15 minutes while the wall was repaired. No one was hurt.
Pit road proved a dangerous place.
Keselowski slid through his pit stall and took out three members of his crew. His tire changer and tire carrier both jumped on the hood and the team jackman was clipped by the left side of the No. 2 Ford. One tire got free and rolled down pit road.
“If we could have, quite honestly, not had that issue during the race, I feel like we probably would have won today,” Keselowski said. “That one is on me, so I feel really guilty for my team on that.”
Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 suffered engine failure 20 laps into the race. Ricky Stenhouse’s No. 17 was a crumpled mess after he slammed into Sam Hornish Jr. Trevor Bayne was knocked out of the race when a pipe went through his radiator.